In a press conference held in Moscow on Friday, Hassoun said that the United States, Britain, and France have sent criminals from dozens of countries to Syria to murder Syrians, destroy the Syrian civilization, and topple mosques and churches, noting that there’s data showing that there are camps in Turkey for training terrorists from Chechnya, Dagestan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, where the US trains terrorists then sends them to Syria.

He said that the extremist plot in Syria seeks to destroy the only secular state in the region where more than 21 religious sects coexist, and that the so-called “friends of Syria” sought to destroy Syria by issuing a Security Council resolution under Chapter Seven, but Russia and China prevented them from doing so.

The Mufti also pointed out to the propaganda war waged by mass media outlets against Syria, and now against Russia due to its firm position against the West’s attempts to hijack decision-making in the world by force.

Hassoun warned against the toxic anti-Russian propaganda, asserting that Russia’s military operations in Syria defend Russia itself and all the Syrians, not a single group or sect, noting that Russia has been trying to bring the “opposition” to dialogue with the government for three years, but the Untied States and some Arab states consistently derailed these efforts.

The Grand Mufti also met members of the Russian-Syrian Friendship Association and the Russian International Affairs Council, during which he warned against the attempts by Saudis passing themselves off as religious figures who seek to create strife among Russian Muslims and incite them to fight among themselves in a bid to send modern Muslims back to the middle ages.

Hazem Sabbagh